Purchase of the Mitchell farm in New Haven, CT. It was named Edgewood.

1889

Donald Mitchell donates land west of the West River to City of New Haven. He persuades residents to do the same. The city acquires land east of the river. The Parks Commission is formed and the land turned over to their governance. The almshouse is moved from the upland area of the park to the Springside neighborhood. West Side Association if formed.

1899

Bronze statue of a soldier honoring Spanish American War veterans is dedicated in the upper park.

Athletic and recreational facilities to include a rowing course built. The New Haven Rowing Club used these facilities regularly.

1937

Beatrix Farrand designed the lilac and rhododendron garden while a student at Yale.

____Design and installation of the Holocaust Memorial

1975

Belford vs. New Haven decision reached.

1989

Renovations based on Mitchell's views of open space are planned.

1999

Renovations based on reviving community interest in open space are implemented

Research Tools

Students will use the archives and libraries available through The Connecticut Newspaper Project(8) and The New Haven Colonial Historical Society(9) to collect articles, interviews and images that will make the time line a personal as well as historical journey. Once the information is located and selected by the students, an adult will need to arrange for the reproduction and delivery of the materials per each organization. The Newspaper Project is accessible via the internet for research locations and has email capability. The Historical Society must be visited by appointment.

Open Space in Urban Areas

Once the time line is completed the class will address the issue of open space in urban areas by examining current park associations and maps. A group of proactive citizens formed The West Side Association in 1889. They were the first group of residents to address the right of public access to open space in parks. Today The Friends of Edgewood Park are once again addressing these issues. Most interesting in Edgewood Park's history is the ability of the average citizen or citizen group to become a catalyst for change. The Friends of Edgewood Park (of which I am a member) will be invited to share with the class how they could effect change today.

The shrinkage of open space can be examined visually with the use of the University of Connecticut's website MAGIC. Included in the time line will be maps students can review and download from MAGIC. We will begin with an examination of the United States of America map by H.S. Tanner, 1834. 4th. edition. It affords one the opportunity to view the United States and choose gridded sections to zoom into. This zoom effect is a very powerful tool for students to understand their relative place in space and time. Six historical maps of New England and Connecticut between the years of 1621 and 1930 are available to supplement more recent and accessible maps. The physical maps will assist us as we discuss the shrinkage of open space and how this effected the decision of Donald Mitchell to begin the parks movement in New Haven.

Rate of Change

Cooperative groups will calculate the rate at which open space changed between 1834 and today. The maps and the calculations will be added to our time line. Physically attaching each map to the time line will assist students understanding the relative time between each new change.

The students will be encouraged to show the multiplicity of change by extending their organizer outward, parallel and horizontally as needed. Each group will be required to create a dual image of Edgewood Park. One side will represent the park prior to the proposed change, the other, after the proposed change. The graphic organizer will be matted onto the back of the image.

The Mural

An aerial view mural of Edgewood Park will be created on one wall in our science lab using a grid system superimposed on an aerial photograph, similar to the 1834 US map located on UCONN's Magic web site. Students identify the specific block they wish to reproduce from the aerial photograph. Using a metric ruler, they will block out patterns of lines and color from their section of the aerial photograph on graph paper prior to painting it on their block of the mural. Using a piece of chalk the lines and colors are marked on the wall. Once completed acrylic paint can be mixed and applied to the wall. The graphic organizers will be hung above the mural with a string zooming into the location of the proposed change. If the proposed change viewed as having multiple effects, then that many strings must zoom into the park. Each new change will add a barrage of string, with the goal of exemplifying the impact one physical change can have on its environment and why we must be very careful and thoughtful when making such decisions.